Cast and details revealed for Dirty Hearts at the Old Red Lion

Casting and details have been announced for Paul Murphy's new comedy Dirty Hearts.

Running at the Old Red Lion in London from 5 to 30 April, the show follows a group of friends who come to question their own characters after a chain of events stemming from a painting's authentication.

Murphy was the joint winner of the inaugural Theatre 503 Playwriting Award, and said today: "As a writer, when pitching a play you're often asked 'Why now?' But what I was more interested in with Dirty Hearts was: 'Why always?'

"This isn't a play ripped from the headlines, rather it's a piece whose themes have been with us for over two thousand years. Love, friendship, trust, morality. All the topics that philosophers and artists have been grappling with from The Golden Age of Athens through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment are what I'm looking to explore. The great comedic potential when a person's ethics come up against their desires."

Pierro Niel-Mee, Allegra Marland, John MacCormick and Isabel Della-Porta will appear in the show, directed by Rupert Hands, who was the associate director on Cyrano de Bergerac.